Smells like Teen Spirit
by Lady MSM
Summary: Being a teenager is hard. It's even harder when your dad keeps pressuring you to be a smith, when all you care about is music. A pre-Silmarils Maglor story. Finally complete! Please review!
1. Chapter 1

_**Yes, okay, I admit it, I'm a bit obsessed with Maglor. So of course I absolutely **_**had **_**to write a story about him as a rebellious teenager. It was required of me.**_

_**Facts About this Story: Every single chapter in this story is named after a song from Guitar Hero II, one of the best video games EVER. Also, the title is the name of a Nirvana song. And everyone talks like modern people because I like writing Tolkien's characters like that. It's fun!**_

_**I'll add some other notes as we go on.**_

**Smells like Teen Spirit**

_It's a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll…_

_-AC/DC_

**Chapter 1: Institutionalized**

So, yeah, you've probably heard of me. Maglor the Mighty, greatest or second-greatest or whatever singer in the history of the world.

Well, guess what? I _never _would've earned that title if I hadn't skipped out on my forge lesson with Dad when I was fifteen. Never.

Actually, I might've. But whatever.

It's always been a bit of a mystery to me why the heck Dad was so insistent on the whole smith's-apprenticeship deal for me anyway. I mean, even after about two lessons, it was evident that 1) I sucked, 2) I didn't care, and 3) I would always suck, and I would never care. A normal dad would have said "well, you tried your best, go study something that you actually give a crap about." Not my dad. I come from a line of very stubborn people.

So, one day I got so fed up with the whole thing that I skipped. It's not like it was anything that new. I'd skipped regular lessons a ton of times before because my attention span was too short for me to learn much of anything (especially math), so really, skipping my lessons with Dad was a logical next step. Well, it was for me, anyway. Therefore, at the time that I was supposed to have my lesson, I just didn't go to the forge and instead went to hang out with Maedhros and Fingon, who were playing cards in the garden out back.

"Hey, Maglor," said Maedhros. "Why aren't you in the forge?" He laid down a card. "You lose, Fingon."

"I'm skipping," I said. "There was no point in going anyway."

"Isn't your old man going to be mad?" asked Fingon.

"Nah. If anything, he'll relieved." I grinned. "I drive that poor guy crazy."

"Poor dumb Maglor," said Maedhros. "You'll never be good at anything except singing, will you."

"Nope. Underachiever and proud of it, brother."

"More of us should follow in your example," said Fingon. "Then we'd be a pissed-off, absentminded, perfect society, and we'd probably all be deaf."

"That'd be cool," I said. "So I decided that it would be way more fun to sit around and play cards with you guys than to get yelled at by Dad and singe my hair."

"It _would_ be a tragedy if you burned your hair, wouldn't it," said Maedhros sarcastically. "You're such a girl, Maglor."

"Excuse me, but I have awesome hair. Don't pretend you're not jealous." I've always been pretty proud of my hair—it's reddish-brownish-blackish, curly, and really long. By the time I was fifteen it reached my waist.

"I might be jealous of your hair if you ever brushed it," said Fingon. "You look like a street urchin sometimes, dude."

"That's on purpose. I'm royalty; society wants me to look all perfect; therefore, I try as hard as I can to _not _look perfect. Aren't I great?" I said.

"If you can call futile rebellion greatness," said Maedhros. "Why can't you be a mindless conformist like the rest of us?"

"My, my, we're being critical today," I said. "Is Dad pissed at you? When are you going to get a clue and stop trying to please him? You know he only values people who can make lame jewelry out of melted metal."

"He's got a point, Maedhros," agreed Fingon. "Your dad's sort of a jerk like that."

"Hey, don't criticize my dad when your dad has plenty of faults of his own," said Maedhros, punching him in the shoulder.

"Whatever. All parents suck. Isn't that right, Maglor?"

"Yep," I said. "Adults are stupid and are not to be trusted. With any luck, Dad will kill me before I'm twenty-one so I'll never have to be one."

"_Maglor_! What are you doing out here?"

"Looks like that was a self-fulfilling prophecy," commented Maedhros as Dad stormed into the garden and pulled me to my feet.

"I asked you a question, Maglor," snapped Dad angrily. "Did you forget that we had a lesson today?"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot," I retorted. "I'm too dumb to remember anything that complicated, as you've made a point of telling me many, many times."

"Don't get smart with me, young man."

"Too late, I already started. Go fawn over Curufin, why don't you, and leave me alone."

"When are you going to stop it with that attitude of yours? It's just going to keep getting you into trouble."

"Good. At least then you won't ignore me like you did until I was fourteen and a half."

"Go, Maglor!" cheered Fingon. Dad scowled at him.

"You are going to be punished for this," he said to me. "I'll talk it over with your mother later."

"Make sure you don't ground me again," I said. "I'm getting kind of sick of that. It would be great if you could think of a punishment you haven't used before."

He gave me an evil look before stomping out of the garden. I spat on the ground behind him and sat down again.

"Jerk," I muttered. "Where were we, guys?"

"Wow, bro," said Maedhros, looking shocked. "That was intense."

"What is it with him, anyway?" I said. "Why can't he just accept me the way I am? I'm never gonna be a genius or a great smith or anything. I'm a musician. There's _nothing wrong with that_."

"Of course there isn't," said Fingon. "I think your dad just doesn't appreciate the fact that you're not like everyone else and you make a point of that. If you could just hide in the background like you used to then he'd be cool with it."

"Disgraces are always easier to deal with if they aren't obvious," said Maedhros.

"Gee, thanks," I said dryly. "So I'm a disgrace now, am I?"

"Not to us, but to Dad, yeah. Anyway, I thought you didn't care about what Dad thought."

Actually, I sort of did. But I wasn't going to tell Maedhros that.

"Hey, no one likes getting called disgraceful," I said. "Even someone as awesome as me."

Later that day, Dad called me into the living room, where he and Mom were sitting on the couch looking stern. Well, actually it was just Dad who looked stern. Mom looked how she always did—calm, cool, and just generally Mom-ish. I fervently hoped that my mother in all her wisdom had managed to keep Dad from coming up with too harsh of a punishment.

Okay, but seriously, it seemed like they were making kind of a big deal out of all this. I mean, I skipped _one _lesson. How is that a horrible crime?

"Maglor, we've decided on yer punishment," said Mom in her cool-sounding Northeastern brogue.

"Yeah, I kinda figured that," I said, sitting down and slouching (sitting up straight was lame, or so I thought at the time. Back when I was fifteen, everything was lame). "So what's the verdict?"

Mom glanced over at Dad. "Feanor, would ye prefer to tell him yerself?"

"Very well. The day after tomorrow I'm going to visit Aule up north for a couple of weeks," said Dad, "and you, Maglor, are coming with."

"_What_?" I said. "Dad, that's totally unfair! You didn't punish Maedhros this harshly when you guys were gone for that one weekend last year and he had that party and everyone got really drunk and one of the windows got broken…"

"Maglor," said Dad in that argue-with-me-and-you're-dead tone of voice he was so good at. "You've been messing around with your apprenticeship for five years now. It's time you learned to take this seriously. So you _will _come, and you will _not _argue."

"Sure and it won't be so bad, me dear," said Mom comfortingly. "Maedhros will be coming, too."

"Really? What's he getting punished for?"

"He's not being punished for anything," said Dad. "He's coming of his own free will."

I shook my head. "It's sad when they go crazy like that."

Dad sighed. "Get out of my sight."

Being a good obedient boy for once in my life, I got up from my chair and went upstairs to Maedhros' room. I knew he'd be eager to hear about my punishment, which, I had to admit, was perfect. Aule's halls were pretty much the Lame Smith Guy capital of the world. I'd been there twice before—once when I was five, and once when I was ten—and I _hated _it. Everyone there told me that they hoped I'd turn out just like my old man, and no one gave a crap about music or anything cool like that.

Yep. This was gonna be torture.

"What'd they say?" asked Maedhros when I entered his room and threw myself face-down onto his bed.

I groaned into the mattress. "I have to come with you and Dad to Aule's."

"Hey, that's not too horrible," said Maedhros. "At least I'll have someone to talk to."

"But it's the one place where I fit in the _least_. Which is saying a lot."

"Maglor, it's not that big of a deal. Just slack off and avoid Dad the whole time, and you'll be fine."

"I hope you're right," I muttered. "Otherwise I'm screwed."

So here I was, fifteen years old, with no influence, no skill, and no future. All I had going for me was a good singing voice and an extremely sharp tongue that was constantly getting me in trouble anyway. Who ever said Valinor was paradise?

**_Final couple of notes: Nerdanel has an exaggerated Irish-sounding accent because I thought it suited her, and I've decided that 50 human years equals twenty-one Elf years so all the ages are in Elf years. Make sense? Excellent. Please review!_**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Mother**

Is there anything dumber than hunting?

No, there is not. Thank you.

Don't tell that to Celegorm and Caranthir, though. They'd disembowel you. For some reason which does not make any sense to me, most of my brothers absolutely love killing poor dumb animals which never did anything to them and don't taste very good, either. Personally, I gave up meat when I was nine and thought—still think—that hunting was lame. Almost as lame as forging stuff.

And both Celegorm and Caranthir knew this. So why on earth did they invite me to go hunting with them the day before I left for Aule's?

"Um, okay, first of all, I don't hunt. Ever," I said. "Second of all, if you'd been paying attention, you'd know that I have to leave to go to The Most Boring Place in the World tomorrow. So no, I'm not going to be able to come on a week-long hunting trip with you guys, much as I'd love to."

"Yeah, we heard about that," said Celegorm, smirking. "Hope you have fun."

Ah, so that's why they'd asked. It was to taunt me. Well, I couldn't let them down by not reacting.

"You guys are idiots, you know that?" I said.

"Not as much as you," said Caranthir. "At least I know how to do long division."

"Oh, yes, that's really going to help you in later life."

"Hey, when I'm a millionaire, I'm gonna have to know math so I can deal with my money."

"When _I'm _a millionaire, I'll have people to deal with my money for me."

"Like you'll ever be rich," said Celegorm. "You'll be living on Dad's money forever, since you're too dumb to get a job."

At that point, I did what any self-respecting teenage boy would do. I flipped him off and left the room.

Having nothing better to do after that, I went into my bedroom and played my lute really, really loud (a good method for releasing frustration, by the way. I recommend it, even though my brothers claim that their hearing is now permanently damaged because of it). Unfortunately, I couldn't even do that for very long, since Dad banged on the door and told me to "quit making that confounded racket."

"Dad, most of the other boys make twice this much noise and you don't yell at them nearly this much," I replied.

"Don't get smart with me, young man."

"You say that a lot, and it doesn't appear to be working. Find something else to order me to do."

He didn't reply, but thanks to my wicked awesome ears I could hear him muttering to himself as he walked down the hallway. It sounded like he was saying "Maedhros was never this difficult."

Just to piss him off, I went back to playing, twice as loudly as before. While I played, I reflected on the following things:

My dad was insane.

My brothers were also insane (even Maedhros, but he was cool so that made up for the insane-ness).

I rocked, but no one cared about me rocking because I wasn't _supposed_ to rock.

See Thing #1 again.

I was totally broke, so I couldn't go anywhere.

I didn't have any friends due to my strong belief that most people were idiots (and no one really wanted to hang out with a weird boy who wore black all the time anyway).

I was being punished really harshly for something really dumb.

See thing #1 again.

Something downstairs smelled like potato soup.

Mmm, potato soup. That could only mean one thing. I got off my bed and went downstairs to the kitchen to talk to Mom.

Being a royal family, of course we had servants, but Mom liked to do most of the cooking herself. She'd come from a fairly poor Northeastern family who didn't have _any_ servants, and so she'd had to do most of the housework herself. Old habits die hard, I guess.

"Hey, Mom," I said, entering the kitchen and hopping up onto the table in the center of the room. "So we're having soup for supper?"

"Yes, we are. Get down from there before ye hurt yerself."

"Mom, I'm just sitting on the table. I'm hardly going to break any of my bones."

"Well, perhaps I don't want ye getting me nice clean table all dirty," Mom said, smiling. "So to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit, eh?"

I sighed. "I dunno. I just felt the need to talk to someone who doesn't consider me to be either crazy or a screw-up."

"Maglor, yer father doesn't think of ye as a screw-up."

"You're required to say that, Mom. You're married to the guy."

"Sure and don't ye have any faith in yer elders?"

"Nope. Lost that _years _ago." I sighed again. "Mom, I don't want to go up north with Dad. Can't you convince him to let me stay home?"

"Now, Maglor, ye know I'm not goin' to do that. It's yer father's right to punish ye how he thinks he should. And ye can't deny that the punishment fits the crime."

"But it's completely stupid. I skipped _one _lesson! Why should I be subjected to a week of torture because of that?"

"Do ye want my advice, Maglor?" said Mom. "Go, and don't complain. Perhaps it'll work out better than ye think. Ye never know what'll happen."

"You make it sound like this is going to be some epic journey," I laughed. "Sorry, Mom, but I doubt it'll be anything that dramatic."

"Hmm," said Mom. "Well, go along with it anyway. To please yer father if nothing else. I'd actually like to come with ye if I could, but I have to look after yer brothers."

"Yeah, I know. I guess that's one good thing about all this—I get to spend some time away from this madhouse." I got off the table and kissed Mom on the cheek. "Thanks, Mom. You're wicked cool."

"And so are ye, my boy. Now go on and do your schoolwork."

Having absolutely no reason to do my schoolwork, I decided to go and chill in the library for a while anyway. Not that I was going to read or anything. Reading was for smart people like Maedhros. But the library was usually pretty quiet, and quiet was what I needed right now.

I threw myself down into my favorite armchair and closed my eyes. Now, this is the life, I thought. If I could just spend all my time in here I'd be way less pissed-off at the world. No Dad, no idiotic brothers, no forge…total paradise. Well, at least I could hang out here for now…

"Maglor! You need to wake up! It's time for supper!"

With a groan, I opened my eyes and stretched out my arms. "Was I asleep?"

"Yes, you were," said Romenella, the cook's daughter, who had woken me up. "But that's okay, you look like you needed it."

Romenella was a nice girl, but she kind of freaked me out sometimes. This was because it was really obvious that she had a crush on me and would go out of her way all the time to run into me. Flattering, yeah, but a little weird. Unlike Maedhros, I wasn't used to girls acting like this around me.

"You know it, sister," I said, standing up quickly. "See you later."

"Hey, wait a second," said Romenella. "Is it true you're going away tomorrow?"

"Um, yeah," I said. "For three weeks."

She blushed. "I'll miss you."

Yep. You and everyone else, girlfriend.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Bad Reputation**

No matter how much I complained, I couldn't change the fact that we left the next day. So I had no choice put to pack up my all-black wardrobe, saddle up my horse (technically it wasn't mine, though, since it was tradition in our house that you got your first horse when you came of age), and head off to the Most Boring Place on Earth.

"This sucks," I muttered.

"You suck," said Maedhros.

"Your face sucks."

"Your mom sucks."

"Dude, we're brothers. We have the same mom."

"Shut up."

"Stop arguing, you two," Dad ordered. "Iluvatar knows how I'm going to survive five days on the road with you boys arguing nonstop."

"At least we're entertaining," I said.

"Damn it, Maglor, if you don't stop arguing with your brother right now, there _will _be consequences."

I had a really, really hard time not saying "What consequences? Are you so uncreative that you aren't able to think of any? And why are you yelling at just me and not Maedhros?"

But I didn't say that, because it would have resulted in further dumb punishments. Even I know when to quit.

We arrived at Aule's halls up north a few days later—a bunch of huge stone buildings that were all kind of connected to each other. I groaned as soon as I saw it. I couldn't believe that I'd have to spend the next two weeks in this place.

On the other hand, I remembered that the food was good, so that was a plus.

Our horses got handed over to some kid in a page's uniform who gave me a weird look (which I was used to by this point, and so gave him the evil eye back and continued on my way) and we went on into the entrance hall.

"I've missed this place," commented Maedhros, looking around at the cold stone walls and freakishly high ceiling.

I stared at him. "You're insane."

"Dude, do _I_ rip the sleeves off all my shirts and survive only on bread and vegetables? No, I think that would be you. So don't tell me _I'm _the insane one."

I would have punched him, but at that moment Aule and Yavanna showed up to greet us so I couldn't. Instead, I made a mental note to get back at him later.

"Feanor!" cried Yavanna, kissing Dad on both cheeks. "How wonderful to see you. And Maedhros, you've gotten so handsome!" Noticing my presence, she blinked and quickly added, "You too, Maglor."

"Whatever," I muttered. I was used to this by now. People would gush over Maedhros and then, for fear of sounding rude, would automatically reuse the compliment on me. I called this the Lame Re-Gifted Compliment, or LRGC. Obviously the people who used LRGC had no idea how dumb they sounded, especially when the compliment didn't apply to me at all. I _wasn't_ handsome. I was too pale and too skinny and my hair was a total mess. Which was how I liked it.

"You look wonderful yourself, ma'am," said Maedhros. "How have you been?"

My perfect charming brother. I'd hate him if I didn't love him so much.

"We're fine, just fine," said Aule. "So, Maglor, what brings you here? Teaching your second son to be a smith, Feanor?

Dad half-smiled, half-grimaced. "Trying. He's not exactly eager to learn."

"The only reason I'm here is because Dad's punishing me for skipping out on my lesson last week," I added helpfully.

"Ah," said Aule, not certain what to make of that. "So what are you interested in, if you're not following in your old man's footsteps?"

"Um…nothing," I said, opting not to tell the truth. This wasn't the place for it anyway.

Unfortunately, Maedhros told the truth for me.

"Well, thanks to some kind of genetic mutation, Maglor's got the most radical singing voice west of Alqualonde," he said. "Isn't that right, Maglor?"

"Um…kinda. Not really," I said. I could feel my face getting warm. Why was everyone paying attention to me all of a sudden? Wasn't the point of my life to be ignored?

"Well, that's wonderful, Maglor," said Yavanna in that tone of voice that adults use when they think you're stupid and they want to humor you. "You must show us sometime."

"Sure, whatever," I said, though I was thinking _Over my dead body, lady_. "So do we get to unpack, or what?"

"Of course," said Aule. "Dirgon will show you to your rooms. Dirgon!" he called in his booming voice.

There was a clatter of footsteps, and my old buddy Dirgon, who I hadn't seen since I was ten, ran into the hall. Dirgon was the son of a friend of Dad's, and I'm pretty sure Dad would've traded me for him in an instant. He was tall and in excellent shape, with shaggy black hair and a golden tan, and he could multiply two-digit numbers in his head within thirty seconds. And, of course, he was an excellent smith. In retrospect, it was pretty amazing that I could stand his company, let alone be friends with him.

"Dude!" cried Dirgon, slapping me on the shoulder. "Can't believe it's been five years. Why don't you come up here more often?" He looked me up and down. "Dang, you still look like a girl. Ever thought about getting some sun and exercise? Wouldn't kill you, probably."

"Shut up," I said. "I see you still smell as bad as ever."

"Hey, your voice changed!" said Dirgon. He never got mad at me, no matter how much I insulted him, so I insulted him a _lot_. "Like it. Sounds cool."

"You've changed too," I said. "Last time I saw you, you could talk in complete sentences."

Dirgon laughed. "Nice one. Okay, come on, everyone, I'll show you to your rooms. You and Maedhros are cool with sharing, right, Maglor?"

"Yeah, we're cool," Maedhros answered for me. "We always share a room when we're away from home."

"Awe-some. Just follow me."

"Finally," groaned Maedhros, throwing himself onto his bed in our dimly lit room. "I hate traveling. Wears me out."

"I kind of like it," I said. "Something to distract me from the boredom of being fifteen years old and not having any friends, anyway."

"You know, Maglor, maybe you could have friends if you didn't keep clinging to the belief that all people are idiots."

"I don't think all people are idiots. I think all _adults _are idiots. And I think most kids are annoying conformists."

"Which is why you don't have any friends. Except Dirgon, and he's just as weird as you."

"Poor me. I guess I'm just doomed to go through life friendless."

"On a positive note, you probably won't have much trouble getting a girlfriend when you're older."

"Why's that?"

"All you have to do is sing to a girl and she'll be all over you. Trust me."

"Well, that's good. You must be so jealous."

"For that? Yes. For anything else? Not on your, life, brother." He sniffed the air. "Hel-_lo_, is that steak I smell? Come on, Maglor, let's go get some supper."

I made a face. "Blecch. Steak."

"You never should've given up meat," said Maedhros, getting up. "No wonder you're so skinny. Meat's good for you, dude."

"Yes, but it also tastes like horse crap, and it involves killing stuff, neither of which is very appealing to me." I finished unpacking my clothes and quickly messed up my hair. "But yeah, let's go downstairs. 'Cause _I _smell potato soup, and I live on that stuff."

We ran downstairs, where Maedhros went off with Dad to go charm adults and I met up with Dirgon to go stuff our faces and make fun of everyone.

"So why'd you come up here, anyway?" asked Dirgon as we sat down in a corner of the crowded banquet hall. "Not that I'm complaining about you being around, but I know this place is torture for a city slicker like you."

"Punishment," I said, swallowing a mouthful of potato soup (mmm) "For skipping out on a lesson with Dad. Why won't he just give up already? I'll never be a competent smith and everyone knows it."

"Stubborn jerk? High expectations? A little of both?" suggested Dirgon. "I don't envy you, dude. My dad's not perfect, but at least he knows it and doesn't expect _me _to be perfect. Your dad thinks imperfection is a freaking crime."

"Whatever. Let's talk about something other than my dad." I looked around the room. "Remember that game we used to play when we were kids, where we'd make up stories about everyone in the room?"

"Oh, man, that game was awesome. Let's do it!" Dirgon sat up straight, his eyes darting around the room. "Okay, that guy with the short blond hair was abandoned on the streets by his parents when he was three and he's come here trying to find them because he knows his dad was friends with Aule."

"That's good," I said. "And…that girl over there is cleverly disguised as a servant, but she's actually a writer who's observing all the dumb things us aristocrats do so she can write a book about it and make us all look like idiots."

"Cool. That guy over there is drinking so much because his fiancé dumped him ten minutes ago, and they'd been together for ten years before he had the guts to ask her to marry him."

"The guy in the red shirt stays up until midnight every night trying to figure out the meaning of life and is about a week away from discovering it."

"That blond chick in the purple dress is psychic and can figure out everything about a person just by looking at their shoes."

I jumped to my feet. "Wait a minute! Is that…oh, Gods, it is! Dirgon, that's Rillian!"

"Who's Rillian?" asked Dirgon, standing up. "Your ex-girlfriend?"

"Close. She's _Maedhros' _ex-girlfriend. He met her when we were on vacation down south last year, and she dumped him. Like, really harshly."

"Oh," said Dirgon, nodding. He elbowed me. "Go talk to her!"

"Do you dare me?"

"Yeah. I dare you."

"Okay, I'll do it, but you have to come with me." I grabbed his arm and we started running across the room towards Rillian. When we were about twelve feet away from her, I slowed down to a walk.

"Dude, why'd we slow down?" hissed Dirgon.

"Because. We don't like her, and we want to look dignified. If we ran, she'd think we were super-eager to see her."

"You sure know a lot about us."

"That's because I'm awesome," I informed him. "Now shut up."

Rillian smiled brightly when she saw me. "Maglor, dahlin'!" she said in her sugary-sweet drawl. "What're you doin' heah?"

"I could ask you the same thing, biotch," I snapped. "Trying to get back together with Maedhros after you broke his freaking heart? Trust me, honey, he can do way better than you."

Wow. I hadn't intended for that to be quite so harsh. It had the desired effect, though—Rillian's glossy red mouth dropped open, and her cheeks went bright pink.

"Gosh!" she cried. "Last time ah saw you, you were _nice_! What's with you?" Tossing her blond hair, she stomped off into the crowd.

A couple of people near us started clapping. Dirgon slapped me on the back.

"Who are you and what have you done with Maglor?" he said. "The kid I used to know never would've yelled at his brother's ex in the middle of a crowded banquet hall."

"I think I was just possessed by the spirit of my dad as a teenager," I said. "C'mon, let's get some more food."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Strutter**

"Dude, Rillian's _here_? And you _yelled _at her?" asked Maedhros when we were in our room that night. "Why didn't I see her? Did she ask about me?"

I rolled my eyes. "Maedhros, the last time you saw her she dumped you. Do you really want to go through that again? I didn't think so. Yet here you are obsessing over her."

"I can't help it," Maedhros groaned. "She's so _hot_."

"Plenty of girls are hot. That doesn't mean you should go out with them."

"You're right, you're right. I'll just avoid her as much as possible." He sighed and leaned back on his pillow. "So what'd you say to her, anyway?"

"Basically that she was a biotch and that she had no business here seeing as she broke your heart."

Maedhros sat straight up, looking shocked. "You did not."

"Yes, I did."

"Whoa! I am extremely impressed, Maglor. You _never _yell. Usually you just mutter curse words under your breath and go back to your lute."

"Well, cursing under one's breath, while a lot of fun, is not very effective, nor does it earn you respect. Besides, I've been ignored for fifteen years now and I'm sick of it. I need to draw more attention to myself."

"Good for you. Hey, what time is it? Dude, it's late. We better get to sleep, or I'm gonna be a total arsehole in the morning."

Aside from the food, there was ONE good thing about Aule's halls. One thing. Guess what it was.

Give up? It's the stair rails. The _best freaking stair rails in the world_. If I could have spent all my time there sliding down the stair rails, I totally would've. Although I think my rear would have gotten sore eventually. Which was probably more information than you wanted. So the morning after the Yelling At Rillian Incident (YARI), I decided to get up early and get in some quality sliding before Dad dragged me off to try to teach me how to forge stuff while I tried not to fall asleep. Whee.

I glanced at myself in the mirror on the wall before heading over to the stairs. A thin-faced boy with wild, dark red hair and freaky amber eyes scowled back at me. Seriously, I wasn't nearly as hot as Noldorin princes are supposed to be. Now Maedhros, he was good-looking, which was why all the girls were in love with him. I looked like a pissed-off alley cat.

Did that Romenella chick have weird taste in guys, or what?

After I'd finished mentally bashing myself, I proceeded to run to the stairs and slide down the (amazingly long and cool) rail as fast as I could. When I'd been ten, I'd screamed like crazy as I slid, but since it was like seven in the morning and I wasn't in much of a screaming mood, I slid in silence. Contrary to what you'd think, sliding down stair rails is _very _good for thinking.

As I slid, I thought back to a conversation I'd heard Dad having with Mom the other day about Maedhros (well, all of us kids really, but Maedhros in particular). Dad was saying how Maedhros was planning on getting a job as a messenger or something for Grandpa he'd finished school. He said that it would be good for Maedhros to get a job working for Grandpa, but that he could probably get one with much higher pay.

"Ah, let him get the job that he wants to get," Mom had said. "Sure and he'll be asserting his independence. It's good for a boy to do that."

I had wanted to yell "So Maedhros can assert his independence but I can't? So he can get a low-paying job as a messenger but I can't be a musician? What is _wrong _with you people? Why am _I _so inferior to everyone else?"

But I hadn't said that, because I hadn't wanted Mom and Dad to know that I was eavesdropping on them and they wouldn't have given me a good answer anyway.

Having reached the end of the rail, I let go of it and jumped onto the floor, landing a good fifteen feet away from the bottom of the stairs. My best landing yet. I whooped and gave myself a self-high-five.

"Bra-_vo_," said Maedhros, clapping slowly as he walked down the stairs. "That was impressive. Unfortunately, I still can kick your ass."

I rolled my eyes. "Dude, you can kick my ass at everything."

"Except the obvious."

"Yeah, except that."

"So do you think you'll ever, like, be loud and annoying for a living?"

"You mean, be a professional musician?" I said, raising an eyebrow at him.

He shrugged. "It's the same thing, isn't it?"

"I'm having a really hard time not hitting you right now."

"Why don't you ever hit anyone, anyway? It's a good way to get your anger out."

"I don't get mad," I said, grinning. "I learn people's deepest, darkest secrets so I can blackmail the hell out of them. _Way _better."

"What do you know about me?" said Maedhros. "Wait, don't answer that. I don't think I want to know."

"Well, all I'm saying is, don't get too comfortable around me. I'm evil through and through."

"I'll say." He stopped, and seemed to remember something. "Hey, just remembered this—that song you were humming on our way up yesterday, you got words to that?"

Maedhros was the only person I ever showed my songs to—partially because he enjoyed 'em, and partially because he knew so little about music that he wasn't going to criticize me. It was kind of a relief to have someone around who knew I rocked and respected me for it.

"Yeah, some," I said. "Haven't had much time to work on it."

"So, are you going to show me what you got?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, why not. Okay, pretend I just rocked a wicked awesome lute solo."

"Okay," said Maedhros, grinning.

I took a deep breath and started singing.

_If you call this love I got news for you_

_Girl you're a far, far cry from a dream come true_

_Don't even know why I stick with you_

_Guess I'm just too lazy to move_

The thing about me is, I can't write normal songs, like the boring mushy stuff and old ballads and stuff (yeah, that's how cool I am. I'm good at music, which isn't normal for a Noldorin prince, and I'm not even good at music in the normal way). Everything I write seems to be loud, cynical, and unspecific. Know what? It works.

_Outta the frying pan, into the fire_

_We're in hot hot water but I can't deny her…_

I trailed off as I saw Dad walking down the hall toward us. While I could sing and act all crazy in front of Maedhros, add Dad into the mix and I'd shut up fast.

"Why'd you stop?" asked Maedhros.

"DA," I hissed, using our code for "Dad Approaching."

"Hello, boys," said Dad, stopping next to Maedhros. "What's going on here?"

Translation: _Maglor, why are you jumping around and singing when I brought you to this place so all the creative energy would get sucked out of you?_

"Hey, Dad," said Maedhros. "We were just goofing off. Did you need us for something?"

"Not at the moment, no." Dad gave me a confused look and continued on his way down the hall.

Maedhros snorted. "Did you see that look on his face? What _was _that?"

"He's shocked that I was actually having fun instead of being all sullen like I usually am," I said. "Anyway, that's all I've got of that song so far. Like it?"

"Dude, it's awesome. How do you come up with that stuff?"

"I'm a genius. Also, I have to do something while pretending to work on my arithmetic."

"Ha."

"Yep. Dude, is that…oh, man, pretend you're not here. Rillian's coming."

"Rillian?" said Maedhros, leaning back to look over his shoulder in a way that looked somewhat painful. I rolled my eyes as my brother's evil ex-girlfriend approached us.

"Hey, Maedhros," she said sweetly. "How _are_ you? Ah haven't seen you in what seems like _ages_, dahling."

"This is certainly our morning for meeting up with evil people, isn't it, Maedhros," I said, hoping to break Rillian's evil spell and get Maedhros to stop staring at her.

"Hey, Rillian," said my supposedly smart older brother, ignoring me. "Yeah, it's been a while—since you _broke up with me_."

I smiled. Now _that_ was the Maedhros I knew. Good for him.

"Oh, ah can't believe ah did that," said Rillian. "Ah'm _so _sorry. Ah just didn't think it would work out, you know, us being so fah away from each other. Ah _cahn't_ stay in love with someone when ah never see them!"

Whoa, this girl was good. And if Maedhros got back together with her, I was going to kill them both.

"Well, it's been fun talking to you, _dahling_, but we've got to go before I vomit all over your obviously expensive dress," I said, grabbing Maedhros' arm and starting to pull him away. "Talk to you later, if we're so unlucky as to run into you again anytime soon."

"Hey!" complained Maedhros when we were out of Rillian's hearing range. "What was that about?"

"Have you been listening to _anything_ I've been telling you?" I hissed furiously. "That girl is nothing but trouble, dude. You realize she probably has another boyfriend back in her hometown and is just messing with you to amuse herself?"

"What do you know about stuff like this? You've never even had a girlfriend."

"Yeah, but I've carefully observed several people who have had girlfriends, including your illustrious self. Dude, just be careful, okay?"

Maedhros rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Fine. But just wait until your hormones start kicking in, then you'll know what I'm going through."

I had to work really hard not to hit him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Tattooed Love Boys**

I asked Dirgon about the whole Rillian-and-Maedhros thing. He wasn't helpful.

"I don't know, man, this doesn't seem like something you can do a lot about," he said. "Maybe you should just chill out, let it go where it will."

"_Let it go_? Dirgon, this is an evil heartbreaking temptress trying to get her claws back into my older brother! I'm not just gonna stand back and watch!"

"But maybe you can't do anything about it. What business is it of yours who your brother goes out with, anyway?"

"Law of Brotherhood. You wouldn't know about it, since you're an only child, but you _always _look out for your younger brother, like how Maedhros looks out for me. Maedhros, of course, doesn't have an older brother, so I, being the closest kid in age to him, have to look out for him. So I can't let him get back together with Rillian. It'd be against every rule in the book."

"Maglor, let me ask you something," said Dirgon. "If you liked a girl, would you want me to be up in your face telling you that that girl's no good and you had to avoid her? Would you?"

"Yes!" I said hotly, then paused. "Um…not really."

"There we go. So _chill_! Maedhros is a smart guy, he'll probably work it out for himself."

I sighed. "You're probably right. But I'm still worried."

"You know what you need?" said Dirgon, looking suddenly excited. "You need to get your mind off things. Here, come with me." He got up and started heading towards his dad's forge. I followed, hoping that whatever he had in mind wouldn't get us in trouble, or would be fun enough to be worth it.

"What are we doing in here?" I asked, looking around the deserted forge. "Are we going to trash this place? Because I don't honestly think that'll do much good."

"Duh, no, genius," said Dirgon. "I'm not _that_ stupid."

"Then what are we up to?"

Dirgon leaned back against one of the walls. "Look, Maglor, I've been thinking this over, and I'll be frank with you: You need to get one of your ears pierced."

"I need _what_?"

"You need to get one of your ears pierced. Think about it, it'd be perfect! Just the thing to prove to the world how badass you are."

"But guys don't have earrings."

"And Noldorin princes don't rock out on the lute and wear black all the time," Dirgon pointed out. "Come on, it'll be awesome."

"Um…" I hesitated for about a second. "I'm in. But don't kill me. Dad probably wouldn't mind, but Mom and Maedhros probably wouldn't be that happy."

"Dude, why do you talk like that all the time?"

"Like what?"

"Like no one gives a crap about you. People like you, Maglor. Not that you make it easy for them."

I snorted. "Dirgon. There are four people in this world that actually like me: you, Mom, Maedhros, and our cook's daughter who, for some reason, has a crush on me. That's _it_."

Dirgon shrugged. "Whatever you say. Let's do this thing."

While Dirgon was actually in the process of forging the earring (which I should have known how to do by this point but actually didn't), I wondered exactly how much this was going to hurt and if I maybe should have thought it over first. I mean, there is a reason that it's usually girls that get their ears pierced. Much as we guys would like to deny it, girls are actually tougher when it comes to that sort of thing.

Don't tell anyone I said that or I'll beat the snot out of you.

Dirgon, having mad skills and everything, was done in about two seconds, so I sat down and prepared myself for pain.

"Okay, so here's what we have to do," Dirgon said. "I have to poke a hole in your ear—sorry, but that'll probably be painful—and then we put the earring in and I'll weld it shut. Ready?"

"Ready, but not looking forward to it."

Dirgon picked up something that vaguely resembled a large metal pin (what it was and why it was in his dad's forge, I have no idea) and heated it over the fire a bit. "Okay. Hold still."

He then proceeded to stab my earlobe with said metal pin thingy.

You should be proud of me, though: I didn't scream or anything, though it took a great deal of self-control and lip biting. How do girls _stand _this, anyway? And most of them get _both _ears pierced.

"You okay?" said Dirgon once he had finished stabbing me in the ear.

"As okay as I can be after that," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Okay, in goes the earring then." He slipped the gold ring into the new hole in my ear and welded it shut (which wasn't as painful as the making of the hole, if kind of uncomfortable).

"And there we go!" Dirgon said brightly. "You now have an earring, and it'll never come out. Whaddya think?"

I looked at my reflection in the bucket of water on the table. Well, there wasn't much of a difference—I still looked like a pissed-off alley cat—but now I looked like a vaguely cool alley cat. Better than nothing.

"Not bad," I said. "Want to switch families with me? I'm sure my dad would love to have a smith like you around."

"Ha, no, I don't think so. I don't really trust those brothers of yours. Remember how Celegorm came up here with you and Maedhros when we were ten and put a bug in my cup of water? I still haven't gotten over that."

"Ah, yes, I remember that. I still haven't forgiven Celegorm for stealing my idea."

Dirgon punched me in the shoulder. "Come on, dude. Let's go inside and hang out in the kitchen and say hi to my mom. She'll probably give us free food."

"Sounds good," I said. "I'm all for free food. It's the meaning of life and everything."

So up we got and went off to the kitchens, where Dirgon's mom worked. I liked Dirgon's mom. She reminded me of my own mom, except with less of an accent and a bit stricter.

"Hello, boys," said Dirgon's mom when we showed up at the door of the kitchens. "Come on in, it's just me in here so you won't be in the way. So what have you boys been up to lately?"

"Well, Maglor's been trying to keep his older brother from getting back together with his evil ex-girlfriend, and I've been trying to convince him it's no big deal and he should let Maedhros work things out for himself…oh, and I just pierced Maglor's left ear because he really needed something to get his mind of things."

"Pierced his ear, eh?" said Dirgon's mom. "Lift up your hair, boy, and let me have a look."

I complied, and Dirgon's mom closely inspected my new piercing. "Looks good. You did a clean job, Dirgon."

"More proof of how he's better than me," I said. "Ah well. Life goes on. So how's stuff in the kitchen?"

"Not bad," said Dirgon's mom. "We've got a new boy, though, and we're having a heck of a time training him. It's not completely his fault—he's only eleven, you know, and still going through that awkward phase—but we've had more unfortunate spills in the past week than we'd had for three months before we hired him."

"Hey, don't rip on Salmar," said Dirgon. "I like him. We should let him join our group when he's older, Maglor."

"What group?" I said. "Two's hardly a group. But yeah, if he meets our standards, he can totally be our sidekick."

"What standards do you boys have?" asked Dirgon's mom.

"Basically, you have to be crazy and have absolutely no other friends," I said. "Being in a permanent state of pissed-off-ness helps too."

"Well, next time I see Salmar I'll send him your way," said Dirgon's mom. "Now, Maglor, I suppose you ought to show that earring to your father."

"Why?" asked Dirgon.

"If nothing else, to see his reaction," said Dirgon's mom. "And to see what he thinks of Dirgon's work." Dirgon's mom, much as she tried to hide it when I was around, really looked up to Dad and was desperately hoping that Dirgon would grow up to be as famous as him. Which Dirgon and I both agreed wasn't very likely and wouldn't be much fun either.

"Okay, we'll go show his dad," said Dirgon. "Say hi to our future sidekick for us."

"Oh, no, you don't," said Dirgon's mom. "You're staying behind with me to sweep up. You hardly ever help me out in here and I'm not letting you slack off forever."

"Help me!" Dirgon cried in my direction.

"Sorry, can't," I said, shrugging. "You need to suffer a little, if only so I'm not the one doing all the complaining. See ya, Dirgon's mom."

"I have a name, you know," called Dirgon's mom as I walked out of the kitchen.

I knew she had a name, of course. I just couldn't remember what it was.

Anyway, the pain in my ear had lessened somewhat, and I was feeling pretty damn good. Hey, it wasn't every guy who was tough enough to let someone else shove a ring through his ear. And besides, it looked pretty good.


	6. Chapter 6

_**All right, people, this is the deal. Due to various circumstances, I've decided not to post any more of this story after this unless I get some reviews, that's how desperate for feedback I am. Like this story? Want some more of it? Great. **_**Tell me!**

**Chapter 6: Psychobilly Freakout**

I ran into Maedhros on my way down the hall. His reaction to the earring was not what I'd have expected.

"Dude, that's _awesome_!" he said. "Did Dirgon do that? It looks cool."

"Yep," I said. "More proof of how Dirgon should be in our family instead of me."

"But seriously, that looks effin' painful. Was it?"

"Yeah, it kind of hurt, but I'm totally over it. It wasn't very long-lasting pain."

Maedhros whistled. "Wow. You must be tougher than you look."

"You know it, bro," I said. "Hey, do you know where Dad is? I gotta show him this."

"I think he's in his room."

"Okay, then. See ya around." I started to walk off, but Maedhros grabbed my arm.

"Oh, no you don't," he said. "Not without me. I have _got _to see this."

Of course I couldn't deny my only semi-sane brother a bit of entertainment, so he and I went off to see what, exactly, my dad would think of my new earring.

"Hey, if he kills me, make sure none of the other guys mess around in my room, okay?" I said. "Because if I ever get reincarnated I might want my stuff back."

"Will do. By the way, aren't you going to yell at me about Rillian? I thought that was your new mission in life or something."

"Dude, you know perfectly well that my mission in life is to piss Dad off as much as possible. Besides, if you want to get back together with a girl who we all know is just going to dump you again, be my guest. You're smarter than me anyway."

"Gee thanks," said Maedhros sarcastically. "Your confidence is inspiring."

I shrugged. "I try."

"Well, here we are. Ready for some fun?"

"You know it, bro." I took a deep breath and knocked on Dad's door.

"Who is it?" I heard Dad call from inside.

"It's the pig you ate for dinner last night," I called. "Am I giving you indigestion?"

I heard Dad sigh audibly. "Come in, Maglor."

"Wow, you're getting good, Dad," said Maedhros as we entered the room. "How did you guess who it was?"

"Because only Maglor would ever say something so patently ridiculous," said Dad, not looking up from his desk. "What do you want, boys?"

"Well," I said slowly, "you remember how last year I showed up at that big feast in a shirt with the sleeves ripped off and you said I couldn't possibly have done anything more stupid?"

"Yes, what of it?"

"Well…I did."

_That _got him to look up. I grinned and pushed back my hair to show him my earring.

"You pierced your ear?" said Dad faintly.

"Technically, no, Dirgon did. You should seriously adopt him, Dad. He'd make a way better son than I do."

"You _pierced _your _ear_," repeated Dad.

"Yeah, he did. Isn't it awesome?" said Maedhros. "I'd do it myself, but I don't think I'm badass enough to pull it off."

"Can I have a closer look?" Dad asked.

That wasn't what I was expecting.

"Um…okay," I said.

Dad got up and inspected the earring closely. "Hmm. Not a bad job. Dirgon did this, you said?"

"Yeah."

"He did a fine job."

"Hold it," I said. "Just hold it for a second. I just pierced my ear, dude. Aren't you going to yell at me?"

"Well, I'm certainly not pleased," said Dad. "It was incredibly foolish and somewhat risky. But your mother will give you quite an earful about it when we get home, so I'm going to spare you some pain for now. Consider this a once-in-a-lifetime immediate forgiveness."

"Oh, come _on_," whined Maedhros. "The only reason I came along was because I thought you were going to yell at him! This isn't any fun."

"Dude, what are you, ten?" I asked.

"No, I just find it very disappointing when you guys act out of character like that. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves."

"I'm never ashamed of myself," I said. "Dad's ashamed of me, though, aren't you, Dad?"

He hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. "Of course not. I'm not ashamed of any of my kids."

Maedhros and I rolled our eyes at each other. Nice try, old man.

"Maedhros, ah've absolutely _got _to tahlk to you. It's _very _important."

Recognizing Rillian's trademark sugary drawl, I pressed my ear to the door. Yes, I know it's not good to eavesdrop. It's also not good to cruelly dump a guy and then try to get back together with him, either.

"What's up, Rillian?" I heard Maedhros say. He was obviously trying to hide it, but I could hear his voice shaking a little.

"Maedhros, ah _cahn't _go ahn like this," said Rillian plaintively. "Ah love you, ah really do. You're the only man ah could _evah _love."

"Really?" said Maedhros, sounding more than a little turned on. "You mean that?"

_No, you idiot, of course she doesn't!_ I thought furiously. _She's just messing with you again! Don't trust her!_

"Of _course _ah do. We're meant for each other, dahling."

"I don't know, Rillian. I mean, you really hurt me last time, and people have been telling me not to trust you."

"Who, that awful lil' brother of yours?" said Rillian. "Don't listen to him. ah don't know why he's always tryin' to keep us apaht."

"Rillian, I trust Maglor," said Maedhros, sounding a bit less turned on now. "If he is, as you say, 'trying to keep us apart', he probably has a legitimate reason."

She laughed. "Oh, come _ahn_, Maedhros, you think that boy has a good reason for anything? He's dumber than a bag of rocks. He'll nevah have a girl, so he cahn't stand to see you with one eithah."

"That's _it_," said Maedhros coldly. "Shut up, Rillian. There's no way in hell I'll ever get back together with you, and that's final."

"Maedhros, dahlin', listen…" Rillian started to say, but Maedhros cut her off.

"No, _you _listen. I don't know what you were even thinking with this. First of all, why on earth would I get back together with you when you dumped me and pretty much broke my heart, and second of all, do you _honestly _think I'd go out with a girl who insults my brothers?"

"But…but you insult him all the time…" Rillian protested, obviously trying to salvage some of her poise.

"Yeah, that's because _I _can! _You _have no right to! You're a heartless, insensitive tramp and I can't believe I ever looked twice at you!"

This was all very entertaining to listen to, because Maedhros hardly ever got truly pissed and when he did it was like watching a pot boil over. Good old Maedhros. I knew he wouldn't let me down. Dirgon had been right after all.

Once Maedhros was done yelling, Rillian, who seemed to be out of dignity, screamed "You son of a bitch!" and ran out into the hallway. I, having jumped back from the door as soon as the conversation was over, smirked at her from where I was leaning against the wall.

"So, _dahling_," I said. "How does it feel?"

Rillian glared at me with pure hatred and grabbed the front of my shirt.

"Ah am going to _kill you_," she hissed. "You heah me?"

"Good luck with that," I said. "I'm tougher than I look."

"Someday ah hope this happens to you!" she snapped, and stomped away down the hall.

Maedhros came out of the room a moment after Rillian had stormed off. He looked exhausted. Well, I couldn't blame him—losing your temper is tiring. Which is why I try not to do it.

"Any regrets?" I asked.

"None at all." He put a hand on my shoulder. "Look, Maglor, you're not dumb. You may not be booksmart or a good smith, but don't ever let _anyone _tell you you're dumb. Got that?"

"Got it," I said. "You know, Maedhros, you're not that crappy of a brother sometimes."

"Thanks. You're never a crappy brother."

"Except when I blackmail you.

"Yes, except then."


	7. Chapter 7

_**Yay, lots more reviews! You guys are the BOMB. Which means you've earned yourselves another chapter. : )**_

**Chapter 7: Rock This Town**

"That was easy," commented Dirgon after I'd related the previous day's events to him. "Aren't you glad you didn't pressure Maedhros too much about Rillian?"

"Dude, you sound like my mom. Shut up."

"I'm glad I don't have a girlfriend," Dirgon said. "Girls are evil."

"What makes you say that? They're not all Rillian."

"Well, girls equal time and money, right? And time equals money, so girls equal money. And money is the root of all evil, so girls equal evil."

"How long did it take you to figure that out?" I asked.

"I didn't come up with it. I heard it from this other guy."

"Ah. Well, that guy is definitely smarter than me. Give him my congratulations."

"Maglor, you were the one I heard it from. Remember five years ago? You spent, like, five minutes working it out, and I said that the only kind of math you could do was the kind that didn't involve numbers. And then we went and slid down the stair rails."

"Really?" I said, and thought for a moment. "So I'm smarter than myself. How does that work?"

"You're dumber now than you were five years ago, that's how it works out. You get dumber every year."

"My dad must be so proud."

"I'll bet he is."

"So, Maglor," said Dirgon. "What exactly do you plan to do with your life, anyway?"

I rolled my eyes. "Is this going to be a lecture?"

"No, just curious. I mean, my life is pretty much planned out for me already, I want to hear what a person who kind of has a choice wants to do."

This would probably be a good time to point out that in all the years I'd known him, I'd never told Dirgon what I was really good at and what I really wanted to do when I grew up. He'd never asked, and I figured that he thought I wasn't good at anything.

So this would be hard to explain.

"Um," I said. "Don't make fun of me about this, okay?"

"No problem. You have my word."

"I want to be a musician."

He stared at me. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"Well," he said. "Well. That's something. Are you any good?"

"That's what people tell me. At least, that's what Maedhros tells me, and he doesn't lie."

Dirgon raised an eyebrow. "Prove it."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. Come on, I won't make fun of you. What are friends for?"

"Okay," I said, oddly nervous. "Here goes."

I sang the song I'd showed Maedhros the other day, except quieter and slower—and finished, this time. It got easier as I went along, and by the time I was done I didn't care if Dirgon thought I was good or not. I _was _good, and I knew it. Nothing else mattered.

By the time I was done, Dirgon was staring at me even harder.

"_Dude_," he said. "That was…it was…well, let's just say that you're totally going to be rich someday."

"Really?"

"Definitely."

"Okay," I said. "Cool."

"Seriously, dude," said Dirgon as we continued on our way down the hall, "you've got to be adopted or something. There's no way you're a Noldorin prince with a voice like that."

"Okay, getting a little uncomfortable here," I said. "Yes, I rock. Calm down."

"Sorry. I'm just kind of freaked out."

"That's because you're a freak."

"So are you."

"Yes, but my freakiness makes me cool. It just makes _you_ freaky."

"Shut up."

"Nuh-uh, not shutting up. You have no authority over me."

"You don't listen to people who have authority over you, and you don't listen to people who have _no _authority over you. Is there anyone you do listen to?"

"I listen to my mom."

"Does she have authority over you?"

"Yes, but she doesn't exercise it. That's the key, right there. If you order me around I won't listen to you, and if you have no right to order me around I won't listen to you either, but if you have the right to order me around and don't, I just might listen to you."

"That's kind of weird."

"Yeah, well, that's how I roll. Get over it."

"Hold it. What right do you have to tell me what to do?"

"Please, let's not get into this…"

Dirgon had to go help his dad with something later in the day, so I was left by myself. After sliding down the banisters for a while, I got bored and decided to rock out for a bit.

I still needed to work on some stuff in that song I'd showed Maedhros and Dirgon, so I grabbed my lute and went outside. There was a pretty cool little garden out back that I could hang out in and no one would bug me. So out there I went, and then proceeded to zone out a bit.

"Hey, kid. Like the way you handle that thing."

I looked up from my lute and saw a tall guy with short blond hair looking down at me. For a second I wondered where I'd seen him before, and then remembered: He was the dude Dirgon and I had seen at dinner a few days ago, the one we'd decided had been abandoned by his parents. Wow, small world.

"First of all, why are you talking to me, and second of all, if you live here you can't know that much about music," I snapped rudely.

He looked shocked for a second, then grinned. "Kind of judgmental, aren't you."

"There are worse things to be," I said. "And you didn't answer my question."

"True, true." He held out one hand. "Name's Amlaith. And I'm talking to you because I think you have large amounts of mad skills which could make you very rich."

"My name's Maglor," I said, shaking his hand. "And I'm having a hard time believing you because people have been telling me things like that for years and I'm still a dead-broke reject."

"Ah, but they weren't me," said Amlaith. "See, I'm not here because I have any interest in jewels or metal, unlike your deal old pops."

"How do you know who my dad is?" I asked suspiciously.

"I asked around about you. Soon as I saw you I knew you were a fellow musician. I can always tell."

"So wait," I said. "If you're a musician, what the hell are you doing here? This bunch of lame-o's probably won't appreciate you much."

Amlaith shrugged. "It pays the rent. Besides, the less your crowd knows, the easier it is to make money."

"Hmm," I said. That thought hadn't occurred to me. "So how are you going to make me rich, anyway?"

"Look, kid, I heard you in the hallway earlier," said Amlaith. "You're good. You're really good. Hell, you're probably better than me. But you're still kind of rough around the edges. What you need is proper training."

"Where am I gonna get that?" I asked. "Not in Tiron, that's for certain."

"That's where I come in," said Amlaith. "See, I'm from Alqualonde, and I'll be going back there in a couple days. And I want you to come back with me and spend a year there as my apprentice."

My mouth dropped open. Like, literally.

Because if Aule's halls were the Lame Smith Guy Capital of the World and Tiron was the Snotty Rich Kid Capital of the World, Alqualonde was the Music Capital of the World. No kidding. Not to mention that it was a supremely cool place. I'd spent a few weeks around there during the summer before, but I'd never really spent much time in the actual city. A whole YEAR there would be amazing.

And the fact that an actual professional musician from Alqualonde was asking me to be his apprentice? That could only mean one thing, dude: I rocked. I _seriously_ rocked.

"That would be totally awesome…" I started to say, before I remembered Dad.

"What?" asked Amlaith.

I shook my head. "Dad would never let me. It's a miracle he lets me play music at all. Quitting my smith's apprenticeship and dropping out of school to go _study _music? No way. Not gonna happen."

Amlaith nodded. "I hear that. Well, if you do manage to convince him, the offer's open. You've got something, kid, something that very few people have. You've got skill and attitude. Don't give that up."

I nodded, and he left. When he was gone, I leaned back and groaned.

Because this was it. This going-to-Alqualonde thing was the _one thing _I wanted, the one thing that might actually get me out of the rut I was stuck in.

And there was no way in hell it was ever going to happen.

Crud.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Monkey Wrench**

Well, I guess it _was _inevitable. Dad had made me come up here because I'd skipped a forge lesson, so I suppose I should have figured that I'd have to make up for it eventually. It was just how things worked.

Dad woke me up a good two hours earlier than I usually woke up when I didn't have lessons (eight o' clock, blecch) and told me to get up right away.

"Mom, I don't want to go to school," I groaned, not completely awake yet.

"Maglor, wake _up_. _Now_. You have a lesson with Aule in five minutes."

"Go to Mandos."

"Maglor. Get. Up. Now."

We probably could have kept this up for ages, but I didn't want Dad to start getting really mad so I finally got up. Even I know when to quit.

Or did I already say that?

Dad left the room and I got dressed, cursing under my breath so as not to wake Maedhros. Lucky bastard. Why did he always get to sleep in? Come to think of it, why was Maedhros' life always so much easier than mine?

Then again, I had yet to go through any messy breakups. One of the few perks of being awkward and unpopular.

I pulled on my boots and walked downstairs, hoping to delay this for as long as possible. It helped that I only had a very vague memory of where, exactly, Aule's forge was. I remembered it was somewhere in the west wing, but that was it. This would, with any luck, take a while.

My enthusiasm for this particular idea faded after it became obvious that I wasn't just kind of lost—I was totally lost. I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere because this didn't even look like the west wing. Where the hell _was _I?

"Great," I said out loud. "I guess I actually _do _screw up everything. Yes, Dad, I proved your point! Happy now?"

"Great Iluvatar, boy. Why are you yelling so much?"

I turned around and what do you know, there was Aule himself, looking like he'd just gotten up.

"I'm…kind of lost," I admitted. "Sorry."

"What are you apologizing for? As far as I know you haven't hurt me any. And as it turns out, you're not that lost. Come with me."

Wow, Aule was actually fairly chill. Who knew?

"You don't look very happy about this, young man," said Aule as we walked down the hall.

"I'm not," I said honestly. "I had to get up early, and I have to hang around in a forge, neither of which is my idea of a good time."

"Well, I can't say that I approve of your father forcing you to study something you obviously hate, but since you're here, let's try to make the best of it, shall we?"

"There's a best of this?"

"Very funny. Not very original, though. You're not trying today, are you."

Damn. This guy knew how to talk to kids. Good for him.

"I _can't_ try today," I said. "No disrespect or anything, but I'm _tired, _dude. Will this take long?"

"It'll take as long as it takes." Aule stopped walking, looked at me, and shook his head. "Maglor, I have to say that while I do like you, I'd hate to be your father."

"I'd hate to be him too," I said. "The rod up his spine has a rod up its spine. Plus, he can't sing at _all_."

Aule laughed. "That, unfortunately, is true. Ah, here we are."

Aule's forge turned out to be just a hole-in-the-wall type of room that looked almost exactly the same as my dad's (except maybe slightly less fancy). I was surprised. I mean, dude, you're a Vala, you could have a way cooler forge if you wanted one.

"Uh…nice place," I said.

"Yes, I like it," said Aule, looking around contentedly. "It's not much, but it does the job."

I thought of a reply to that, but it was _really _dirty so I didn't say it. There are some things adults just can't handle hearing.

"So," said Aule. "What exactly has your father taught you how to do?"

"Nothing," I said. "He's tried to teach me plenty, but for most of it I wasn't paying attention. I know how to use the bellows, and…that's about it."

Aule groaned. "Good heavens, what you must put your father through."

"Hey, it's not my fault he thinks I actually care about this," I said. "He puts _me _through plenty."

"I don't doubt it," said Aule. "I don't doubt it. Let's just start with something basic, shall we?"

He started showing me how to do something, but I wasn't really paying attention and didn't hear a word he was saying. I was too busy wondering if Amlaith had been serious when he invited me to Alqualonde, and if so, whether or not I'd actually go. Even if I did have the guts to give up on my current education, would Dad let me go? He probably wouldn't. Actually, scratch that. He _definitely _wouldn't. Noldorin princes didn't drop out of school when they were fifteen. It wasn't done.

"Maglor!" said Aule, cutting into my thoughts. "Are you paying attention?"

"I did once, but it wouldn't pay me back," I retorted without thinking.

He stared at me, and all I could think was _Oh, man, you've really done it this time, Maglor. You've been giving everyone attitude all morning and now you just insulted one of the Valar. You're going to be in _so _much trouble_.

Then Aule burst out laughing.

"Well said, boy," he chortled. "Well said indeed. Did you come up with that on your own?"

"Um, yeah," I said. "Sorry, that was rude, I know…"

"Are you kidding?" Aule slapped me on the back, nearly breaking my spine in the process. "I haven't heard anything that funny in years. You've got guts, Maglor."

"Sure, if you call the ability to yell at my brother's ex-girlfriend and talk back to my dad guts."

"I most certainly do. I know your father quite well, and I know that it takes a lot of courage to stand up to him." He laid down his hammer and put a hand on my shoulder. "And you know what else I know?"

"What?" I asked, resisting the urge to shrug off his hand. I don't really like being touched.

"I know that you'll never be a smith and that it'll never bother you."

"Thus making me a disgrace," I finished for him. "Pathetic, aren't I?"

"My dear boy," said Aule, "there is little about you that is pathetic. You have a sharp wit, a highly defined sense of right and wrong, and I heard you in the hallway yesterday and I have to say that you have an excellent voice. You'll make quite a name for yourself someday."

_He'd_ heard me in the hallway too? Man, I must have been louder than I'd thought. I would really have to work on that.

"Oh, yeah, _someday_," I snapped. "_Someday_. Someday's a long ways off, you know. And I'm so sick of everyone telling me my future's going to be great when my present is a pile of dog shit! When's this awesome future going to _happen_, huh?"

Not waiting for a reply, I ran out of the forge and back to my room, feeling oddly like I was going to cry.

"Well, you look pissed," said Maedhros when I crashed into our room. He looked like he'd just woken up. "What happened?"

"Just had a lesson with Aule," I said. "It didn't go well."

"Why, what'd he say?"

"It wasn't so much what he said," I replied. "It was more what I thought."

"Explain. Now."

I did so, leaving nothing out—not even the part about Amlaith inviting me to Alqualonde, even though I hadn't told anyone about that yet. By the time I was done, Maedhros looked all of the following three things:

Amused

Sympathetic

Shocked

"Wow," he said. "So this dude asked you to be his apprentice? That's cool."

"I know," I said. "I really, really want to go. It could change my life."

"So are you going to?"

"Obviously not. Dad won't let me."

"Have you asked him?"

"Well…no."

"There we go," said Maedhros, shaking his head. "That's your problem, right there."

"What's my problem?"

"You're all like, 'My life sucks, everyone ignores me and nothing's ever gonna change,' but that's because you don't _make _it change. You don't do anything. You just sit around and expect people to make changes for you."

I stared at him, surprised.

Because for once in his life, Maedhros was dead on.

"What should I do?" I finally asked.

"You do," said Maedhros, "whatever the bloody hell you want to. I'm going back to sleep."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Surrender**

I ran out of the room like a crazy person and went to go find Amlaith. I had something very, very important to tell him.

Three guesses as to what it was, and the first two don't count.

Because Maedhros was right. I had to change my life myself. And I knew that the only way I could do that was if I went to Alqualonde, whether Dad liked it or not. Besides, Dad probably would be ecstatic to not have me to worry about for a year.

See, I know good advice when I hear it.

Finally I found Amlaith out in the courtyard, leaning against a pillar and humming to himself. I walked up to him.

"Hey, Amlaith," I said. "Got news for you."

"You're coming?" he said, turning his head to look at me.

"Yep."

"Your dad said yes?"

"Haven't asked him. Don't care. I'm coming no matter what he says."

"That's the spirit. Stick it to the man." Amlaith put both his hands on my shoulders. "Look, kid. I know it's been tough for you. People give you crap because you don't act the way they think you should, and they tell you there's something wrong with you. Well, let me tell you this now, boy: There's nothing wrong with you. You ROCK. And people in Alqualonde are gonna appreciate that, I swear."

"Okay," I said.

"Shake on it." We shook hands. "You're now officially my apprentice."

"This," I said, "is not what I was expecting to get out of this punishment."

"Punishment?"

"Well, I only came up here because my dad was punishing me for skipping out on a lesson with him."

Amlaith laughed. "Irony. I love it."

"Yeah," I said. "Occasionally I do have to wonder if my entire life isn't someone's idea of a cruel joke."

"I'm pretty sure all our lives are cruel jokes," said Amlaith. "Iluvatar must be laughing his divine ass off somewhere."

"He has a weird sense of humor."

"And how. So are you going to tell your dad about your decision, or are you just going to leave and let him figure it out for himself?"

"Hmm, the last one sounds tempting, but I think I'd better tell him. If I didn't, he'd be even more pissed at me when I got back."

"Good point." Amlaith grinned. "You're a good kid, Maglor. I think you'll fit in fine with my crowd."

Fit in? Wow. Weird concept. But considering all the weird things that had happened to me lately, maybe it was possible.

I took my time going to Dad's room to tell him about going to Alqualonde. Not that I was having second thoughts, but I really wasn't looking forward to what my dear old father would have to say about my decision. I just hoped that I was making the right choice. Here I was, dropping out of school to go study for a career that might not actually make me a lot of money. Was this a huge mistake?

_None of that now, boy_, I thought. _You've made your choice and you can't back out now. Everything will work out_.

By this time I'd reached the door of Dad's room. I took a deep breath and knocked.

"Hey, Dad?" I called. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Come in."

In I came, closing the door behind me (if Dad was going to flip out, which I assumed he was, I didn't want everyone in the entire freaking building to hear). Dad was sitting at his desk working, as usual.

"So…here's the deal," I said. "I met this guy Amlaith, and he's from Alqualonde, and he said that I should go back there with him and study music for a year. And…I'm going."

"No," said Dad. "You're not."

"Yes," I said. "I am."

"Maglor," said Dad, standing up. "You are _not _going. You have an education to complete. I will not allow you to go off to Alqualonde with some fellow you've just met to study something as trivial as music!"

"Dad!" I yelled. "I'm not asking for your permission! I'm going, and you can't stop me! This is the one thing I want, Dad. Music is the one thing I'm good at. And quite frankly, after the way you've been treating me throughout my entire life, I think you owe me a little."

Dad stared at me.

I stared back.

Finally he turned away. "Go."

"What?"

"Go, if you're so keen to. I won't stop you."

"You won't?"

"Damn it, Maglor, just go! You've made up your mind and I obviously can't change it. So get out of here and go do whatever you like. I give up."

"Okay," I said. "I'm going. Oh, and tell Mom that I'm…" I searched my brain for the right words. "Asserting my independence. She'll like that."

Dad didn't say anything. He just stood there, staring at the wall. For once in my life, I think I'd shocked him into silence.

"So…are you going?" asked Maedhros.

"Well, let's just say that you won't hear me complaining for the next year or so," I said. "I'm going to Alqualonde!"

"Excellent, man! Good for you! What did Dad say?"

"He said 'Just go. You've made up your mind and I obviously can't change it. So get out of here and do whatever you like. I give up.'"

"Wow," said Maedhros. "Dad said _that_? Way harsh."

I shrugged. "I guess I just had to make him realize that I was never going to be what he wanted me to be. And if that's hard on him, well, it's his problem, not mine."

"Well said." Maedhros laughed. "Dang, my brother's gonna be famous!"

"How do you know?" I said.

"Dude, you've got a great voice, plus you have cool hair and an earring. That's all you need to be a celebrity."

"Interesting," I said. "Man, I should have done something like this _years _ago. My life probably would have been a lot less miserable."

"Well, at least you wrote some good songs," said Maedhros. "I'll miss you, you know that?"

"Yeah, I'll miss you too. You're the only one of my relatives that isn't Mom that actually gives a crap about my well-being."

"Hey, hey, let's not get carried away here," Maedhros said. "I said I'd miss you. I never said I actually cared about you."

I grinned. "You bastard."

"Right back atcha." He slapped me on the back. "When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow. As soon as possible."

"I'll save the goodbye for tomorrow, then. Hey, Maglor?"

"Yeah?"

"If you happen to meet any cute girls that you think I'd like—well, try to hook me up, okay?"

"Okay. But I think you need to swear off women for a while. They tend to turn you into a hormonal idiot."

"Silly Maglor, I'm always a hormonal idiot. Where have you been?"

_In hell_, I thought. _But I'm working on that._


	10. Chapter 10

_**Well, here we are, the last chapter. But don't worry, I've got a sequel to this that I'll post if people want me to. Peace out!**_

**Epilogue: Carry On Wayward Son**

I woke up at four o'clock the following morning. This could have been caused by the fact that Amlaith had apparently just dumped some icy cold water on me.

"What the hell, man?" I hissed.

"Get up. We're leaving."

"At four in the morning? And was the water really necessary?"

"You wouldn't wake up. Actually, I'm surprised I didn't wake up your brother over there. You must come from a line of very deep sleepers."

"Among other things." I climbed out of bed, yawned, and stretched. "What stuff should I grab?"

"Only the necessities. Don't worry if you forget something, we can probably replace it. Now hurry!"

"Why are we leaving this early, anyway?"

"Less fuss. Plus, we'll make better time."

"How long will it take to get to Alqualonde?"

"Two days at most. We'll probably need to camp out tonight. Come on, you can ask all the questions you want to once we're onthe road. Get packing!"

I grabbed some clothes and stuff, shoved them into a bag, and put on my boots. "Okay. Ready."

"Excellent. Let's get out of here."

"Oh, wait a second," I said. "I should probably leave a note, so no one freaks out..." Quickly, I pulled out a pen and some paper and wrote,

_Left when you were asleep. No worries. Peace out.  
-Maglor_

"Now we can go," I said.

"Why did you bring two horses up here?" I asked as I saddled up Amlaith's extra horse (I figured that Dad didn't need me stealing the horse I'd ridden on the way up on top of everything else).

"This one's my pack animal," Amlaith replied. "She brought my luggage."

"Don't you need her to carry your luggage back, then?"

"Nah, I can just leave whatever stuff I don't need here. I can always have it sent to me if I need it."

"Good point."

"Man, kid, you are going to love Alqualonde," said Amlaith. "It's pretty much paradise for guys like us. Music, culture..." He licked his lips. "Pretty girls..."

"Well, that last bit won't do me much good," I said. "Girls tend to ignore unattractive guys."

Amlaith frowned. "Who's been telling you you're ugly?"

"No one needs to. It's obvious," I said. "I mean, I'm not nearly as good-looking as Maedhros."

"Kid," said Amlaith, "you have gotta start looking at yourself for yourself instead of comparing yourself to everyone else." He jumped up onto his horse. "Let's ride."

I got up onto my horse too, wondering exactly what he'd meant by looking at myself as myself. It sounded like one of those random wise things Mom was always saying.

But whatever. My smith's apprenticeship was over, I was going to Alqualonde, and I'd never have to do math again. I was _so _outta there.

**End (for now)**


End file.
